Thai farmers have aired their grievances over the government’s decision to slash the rice pledging price ceiling. Most of them are worried about shouldering the burden of higher production costs of rice farming and the chronic problem of accumulating debt owed to loan sharks.
There are over 37 million farmers in the country. Over 80 per cent of them do not own the land they farm.
In Chai Nat’s Sankhaburi district, about 80 per cent of over 1,000 rai of paddy fields are for rent. Most farmers there do not own the land they farm and are hired to grow rice three times/year.
Farmers in provinces are up in arms after the government agreed to cut the paddy pledging ceiling price from 15,000 to 12,000 baht/tonne. They are concerned that production costs might not decrease in accord with the lower pledging price
“If the pledging price is lowered, then other costs should also be slashed. The government wanted to win the public vote and that already caused higher prices of consumer goods. But now if the rice pledge price is to be lowered, then it must be done in a balanced way so we can survive,” said Biew Sripa, a farmer.
Another farmer in Sankhaburi district said she once had her own rice farm but due to problems that arose, she began borrowing from loan sharks and was eventually forced to sell her land to pay off the debt. She is now hired to do rice farming in what used to be her own land. She said over half of the income she earns goes to the landowner. At minimum the production cost for rice farming is around Bt5,000/rai and tends to go up every year, she said.
Meanwhile, the coordinator of a council for farmers network, Kim-Ang Pongnarai, said farmers can sell rice at an actual price of Bt9,000/tonne if the pledged price stands at Bt12,000-13,000.
“Farmers are losing their rice farms due to accumulated debt, the problem which should really end and be dealt with, while the production structure needs to be fixed. Farmers these days don’t earn profits, for they farm rice all year round, having high production costs by putting a lot of fertiliser, chemical as part of investment,” said Kim-Ang.
Thai Rice Farmers Association president Prasit Boonchoey said if farmers sell their rice at a real market price, they will not earn sufficient income. So he can’t say that farmers will be satisfied with the ceiling price at Bt12,000-13,000/tonne.
“We have to wait and see what the government will do, whether it’ll be sincere to farmers. But in the end, the rice pledging scheme will have to stay and won’t change to something else,” Prasit noted
